


170 THE INSECT WORLD. 

the air? Some amateurs have devoted to the purchase of certain 
butterflies large sums of money. ‘ Diamonds,” says Réaumur on 
the subject, “have perhaps beauties no more real than those of a 
butterfly’s wings; but they have a beauty which is more acknow- 
ledged by oe meas in general, and which is more recognised in 
commerce.” ‘The Rone and distinctive character of puthentees 
and moths makes them very easily recognisable among all other 
insects. All have four wings, and these wings differ from those of 
other insects, in that they are covered with scales, which commu- 
nicate to them the brilliant colours with which they are 
decorated. It is these scales which adhere to the fingers when 
one seizes one of these charming creatures. 
For a long time this dust was thought to be formed of very 
small feathers, but Réaumur showed that it is composed of little 


scales. Their form varies singularly, as we may see in Fig. Iss, 
borrowed from the memoirs of Réaumur,* which represents 
the different forms of the scales which cover the wings of 
Lepidoptera. M. Bernard Deschamps has closely studied them. 
According to this naturalist, they are composed of three mem- 
branes, or plates, superposed one on the other, of which the first 
is covered with granulations of a rounded form, which give to 
these scales their splendid and varied colours ; the second scale 
* Tome i. planche 7, Fig. 1 a 23. 
Fig. 153.—Different forms of the scales ef Butterflies, after Reaumuyr. 



